Quick way to earn $50 bucks and save more!

I was a little skeptical in opening an online banking account, but my husband opened an account with ING Direct (now Capital 360) about four years ago and we have loved having the account.  It is easy to open multiple savings account for different saving goals, and transfer money in between accounts. Now we both have checking accounts and savings accounts. 

The best part about opening an account is that you can earn an easy $50 bonus.  I have included a link below if you are interested in checking it out. 

 

https://www.capitalone360.com/referafriend/index.asp?save=uKKTwuqRJk

I am the turtle!

I have like a million and one ideas running through my head at any given point in time. Finding a way to take those ideas and turn them into reality is a struggle for me.  The problem for me is I want what I want right now. I know what steps it will take to accomplish what I want, and I somehow want to complete those sets immediately.  In reality, however, it is going to take time.  I realized this week that I have been setting too many goals for myself and being very unrealistic about the process. 

The reason that I named my blog Turtle in a hares world is because the entire point of everything I am doing is to be able to live the life my husband and I want, have the things we want, but not have to constantly be running and missing out on the special things that make life so wonderful.  I have a bad habit of setting too many unrealistic goals and then I end up getting so tired and frustrated that I quit the entire race totally.  I end up not wanting to do anything.  I have found this to be true with losing weight, saving money, cleaning, and working on starting a business.  The past year and 1/2 I have made progress in that area, however.  Especially, I would have to say, when it comes to my weight.  I have not dropped out of the race at all.  I have had times when I slowed down and periods when I didn't lose, but for the first time in my life I have over the past few years slowly been going down on the scales and inching closer to my overall goal. I had to remind myself of that again this week because I found myself frustrated with my progress.

The reality for me is that doing extremes has never been successful for me.  I have lost and gained 100's of pounds in my life, but I would also get frustrated and quit.  So today I don't want to say that I start fresh again, but I allow myself to slow down pick a few steps to work on and move forward.  So last week I didn't write all the blog posts I wanted. I could just stop the blog, which is how I would have responded in the past, or I can start with today. I can share where I am mentally today, and move forward. 

I sometimes think where would I be today if I had simply taken a break when I needed to and focused on maintaining progress instead of just going off the deep end when I got tired of working towards something.  All I know for certain is that I am enjoying where I am in my life now. I am especially enjoying writing this blog...and so the race continues...

Would love to hear from others about how they are finding their passion, reaching their dreams, and living the life they want to live at the pace they want to do it. 

Making money online: Post 1

I have had several people ask me about the some of the opportunties that I have found online to make money.  I decided to focus this week on some of the opportunties I have found and some new opportunities that I am trying.  I wanted to start tonight by writing a few things that I have learned from trying different online opportunities.

1) Lots of opportunities exist- I was really amazed at all the opportunities available online to make money.  I just started searching for work at home opportunities, ways to make money online, and ways to make money from home.  There are tons of sites out there that the entire purpose is to present opportunities to help you make a few bucks or totally replace your income. I will list out some of the sites I have found most hopeful later this week. 

2) Research, Research, Research- There are tons of opportunities out there, but there are also tons of scams.  It is very important to research every opportunitiy before you try it. I personally have never paid any money to try any of the opportunties, but there are some opportunities that require you to pay for background checks and things like that. I did find what seemed to be some legitimate opportunities that charged background check fees. I decided not to do it, but you might decide it is worth it. I wouldn't pay any money you couldn't afford to lose.  Some things that I always check before signing up for something;
          1) What do reviews say- I always check to make sure there are recent reviews out there and
          see whether or not the reviews are positive or negative. There are usually always going to be
          some negative reviews out there but you want to check and see if overall the reviews are  
          positive.
          2) Read all the fine print-Make sure you read all the requirements, expectations, payout
          schedules.  With mystery shopping for example, a lot of them pay two months behind.  I
          didn't mind that because after the two months the checks started rolling in.
          3) Accept that everything may not turn out as planned-I honestly had really good luck with
          all the opportunities I pursued, but there were a few opportunities that I ended up just
          losing my time on. 

3)  Don't put your eggs all in one basket- I started out by trying opportunities in different areas such
as filling out surveys, mystery shopping, and doing some pay per task options.  Then I just figured out what I liked the best.




   

Are you interested in earning some extra money?

I am really enjoying doing this blog.  I enjoy it because it keeps me focused on my goals, and I get to share what I am learning along the way.  I have had several friends ask me about some of the opportunities i have found to make some extra money online.  I decided to focus the next seven days of blogs on that topic.  Here is the list of upcoming topics for the next seven days:

Tuesday-Tips to finding online opportunities and avoiding scams
Wednesday-Mystery Shopping
Thursday-Online surveys
Friday-Couponing, Rebates, and Trial period offers
Saturday-Task based money makers
Sunday-Work from home jobs

I would love to hear if anybody else has tried any online money making opportunties.  I look forward to posting in the next week.  I plan on only discussing opportunities that I have personally tried and received checks or payments from.  Thanks for everybody that has been reading my blog :) Hopefully together we can all reach our financial goals and have more of the life that we want. 

Saving money while vacationing

My husband and I just got back from vacation.  We went to Branson for Valentine’s Day.  I have to say that we had the best trip.  We would love to be able to take more small mini vacations, but we also have goals of getting out of debt and wanting to buy a house.  Here are some steps we took to save a little bit of money on our vacation. 

1)      Pick a hotel that offers extras for a good price- My husband and I love to go swimming, and a lot of times we would rather spend a day just strictly soaking in the hot tub and swimming in the pool. We always stay at hotels that have that option.  We stayed at the Welk resort in Branson.  They have a waterpark and game room.  At different times of the year they also offer breakfast package options. 

2)      Bring your own drinks and snacks-The Welk resort has small refrigerators in the room.  We always bring drinks with us.  This can save lots of money.  Bringing our own snacks also helps.  A lot of times if breakfast is included in the hotel rate, we will snack for one meal and eat out for the other meal.  This vacation we splurged a little more and ate out twice a day.

3)      Plan ahead on what you can- I think life can get boring if you over plan.  Part of going on vacation is not having to have a set schedule, and to be able to do something just because it looks like fun.  Most people, however, usually have some idea of a few things they want to do on vacation.  We always want to eat at certain places when we got to Branson.  We love to eat at the Outback in Branson and Fuddruckers.  I checked out the Outback in Branson site and found a coupon I could purchase for 1.50 for our favorite appetizer (saved us $5.00) plus they had discount certificates to purchase that were sent by email.  I was able to get a $50 gift certificate for $40.00. 

    We also love Fuddruckers.  I signed up for their email club, and they send out coupons for your Birthday.  I got my coupon, but it expired before our trip. I emailed them and let them know that we do not have a Fuddruckers close by but would be traveling to Branson.  They emailed me back and told me to email them closer to the trip.  I did, and received a coupon that day for a free burger.  We both ate at Fuddruckers for under $12.00. 

4)       Look for fun free items to mix in with more costly adventures- I am sure there are some people that could spend a lot less on vacation.  I have read blogs where people only do free things on vacation.  I am all about saving money, but also want to feel like I’m not missing out on things I want to do.  I think a good mix can be found.  Some of the things that made Branson so special this trip was that we ventured out more.  We love to go to Branson Landing.  They have the water show and it is totally free.  We also went to Outback on a night that they had live entertainment.  We didn’t plan for that, but in the future I will be looking more to find places that offer life entertainment.  We also visited Eddie Biggs Dueling Piano Bar.  They had great food and only charged $5.00 per person to get in.  The show starts at 8:00pm.  They played great music and we had so much fun singing along. 

5)      Keep an open eye for opportunities to save a little-I am learning to look totally different at money.  I still have a long way to go.  I look back on our trip and I still see ways we could have spent a little less, but I think that is the point to keep trying.  Even on vacation I am constantly keeping my eye open to find coupons and ways to save.  I think it is important to write down ideas or things you discover even if it is too late to use those ideas on your current trip.  There is lots of information on the internet about saving money on trips. 

Would love to hear any of your tips for saving money on vacations.  We are excited to now be planning a trip to Tennessee in the fall.  Hoping to find lots of ways to save money along the way. 

Couponing in Conway, AR

Hey, I had a couple of people ask me for some couponing tips, so I will tell you what I know about this area.  My favorite couponing site is krazycouponlady.com.  The site takes pretty much all the guesswork out of couponing.  They have website, blog, and facebook page. I love all three. On facebook that constantly are updating with different savings options. They also do more than just couponing. I have gotten discounts on gas cards through them, learned about additional ways to earn extra cash.

Thing I like best about them is that they match up coupons and ads. They will release usually on Friday and Saturday all of the adds for Walgreens, Kroger, Target, Kmart, Staples, Walmart and other places. They will also tell you what ads are going to be in the Sunday paper.  This can let you know if you want to buy the paper for the coupons.

My favorite places to shop in Conway are Walgreens, Kroger, and Target.  They to me have the best deals.  I will write a little bit about each store below, but a lot of this same information can be found on the website listed above as well.

Walgreens-I was a little sad when they switched to the rewards card, but they still have great deals.  They have an app you can download  and it will keep up with all your rewards points. You earn points on your purchases and can redeem them for cash off your purchase. They also have register rewards. These are immediate reward dollars to be use on a future purchase. I have never found a time I couln't use them right then.  I got a lot of free stuff that way.  They also have coupon books that they put out each month. A lot of Walgreens stuff is overpriced, so be careful and don't buy overpriced stuff just to use your register rewards. 

Target-Target has a lot of great deals. Lately they have been running a lot of specials where you get target gift cards if you purchase so much. Target will stack one Target coupon with one Manufactur coupon.  Again Krazycouponlady.com will take all the guess work out that for you.  You can alsoget a Target debit card to save an additional 5% on all your purchases. 

Kroger-Kroger will double all coupons up to I believe 50 cents.  They release their adds on Wednesday. 

I will write more later about couponing and Conway.  I also get a lot of good deals at Staples. I check out the Harps ad, but haven't gotten as many good deals. 

Celebrating our successes and looking towards the future!

   Despite being sick, this has a been a big week for my husband and me. We reached our first big financial goal for the year.  We officially have our emergeny fund goal reached.  I cannot explain how excited I am to have that goal accomplished.  We also are pretty close to having our second goal achieved which is to have all of our bills caught up and being paid on time. It is amazing how much money you can spend in just careless late fees. 
   My entire view on money has changed over the last twelve months.  My dad once told me that you want to have enough money so that if you ever need to you can tell your boss to take this job an shove it...(lol I don't think that was his exact words), but I understand now what it means.  I don't want to feel like my husband and I are stuck.  Having money and using it wisely can allow you to have so much freedom.  I want options.  I want to know that when my husband and I have kids that i can stay home if I want to. 
   My life dream has always been to have my own business. I didn't know what type of business, but I knew I wanted something of my own.  I have tried several times to start different things, and last year I quit my career as a counselor to pursue a gift basket business. I realize now that I just didn't have a full grasp on how to make all that happen, and how to prepare for the financial uncertainty that comes with starting a business. But now I do, or atleast I have a better a understanding of what I need to do to lay the foundation. 
   For February, my husband and I have set another goal.  We want to find a way to bring in or cut from our budget an extra $800.00 for the month of February. This will put us totally caught up with everything, and paying everything on time as mentioned above.  I share this just because I am going to be sharing on weekly basis the ideas and tips we come up with to create that extra $800.  I am sure there are others out there that are in way too much debt, would love to stay home with there kids, take a trip, or just have a little more wiggle room. 
   You know my husband and I talk about everything in regards to our money, but I think even he would admit that I pretty much handle our finances.  I think that up till now I really didn't take that role to serious, but now I realize 10 years down the road we are either going to have the life we want or not, and the only one to blame will be me if we don't.  I say that with certainty because I know God has always provided us with what we needed and even more, but it is up to us to manage it, to make it grow, to use it the way we know we should. This month in honor of Valentine's Day I want to love my husband enough to be responsible and manage our money well. 
   I have made it a goal for this month to blog two times a week. My other blog this week will include some of the ways we have already created some extra income this month, and how we are going to save on Valentine's Day;)
  Thanks for sharing this journey with me :)